Desert Rose
by supastar45
Summary: Trapped under ground in an ancient pyramid with only a few tools, a man he just met yesterday, and a thief trying to kill them both, Yugi and his new partner are going to have to find their way out of the tomb. There was just one problem, they'd have to live long enough to get there.
1. Want

Dear journal,

It's finally happening, I've been wanting a big shot like this for two years now. I'm going to be the first to explore the ancient pyramid of king Aknamkanon, the last of the great ancient pharaohs. The whole team is ready to go. It's supposed to be one of the most elaborate tombs in existence. The legend goes that there is a treasure hidden there that has the power to throw all of humanity into total chaos and despair and that whoever holds it shall have power and dominion over all mortal souls for as long as he shall reign as the king over all of humanity and existence. Sounds super interesting. Anyways I should go. The plain is about to board soon. I have a really great feeling about this trip. I don't know what's going to happen but I know it will be bigger than anything I've ever done before in my life.

Yugi closed his journal just as Joey and Ryou walked over. Ryou handed him some candy. "Hey Yugi we couldn't find you any of the chocolates you wanted so we got you these sugar free gummy bears instead."

Yugi got up and accepted the treat from his friend. "Thanks Ryou but I could've sworn I saw the fudge chocolate balls in a shop on the way up here." Just saying the name of his favorite treat made his mouth water.

Joey came up beside him and threw an arm around his shoulder. "And by "couldn't find them" we meant that we didn't want you acting like a sugar high three-year-old on the plane again like last time."

Yugi remembered that plane ride. He had spent and hour going on and onto the lady next to him about pie. Yugi blushed and Ryou nodded his agreement. Before Yugi could say anything he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. "Oh shit, it's Kaiba."

At the sound of his boyfriend's name Joey's mood immediately took a turn. "Kaiba? You tell that jerk I said he can take whatever he's about to say and shove it right up his ass! Probably won't fit with his big head already up there all the damn time. Stupid Kaiba."

Ryou turned to a pissed off Joey while Yugi went to go answer the phone. "What did he do this time?"

"He missed our anniversary dinner to meet with some big shot investor of his. He owes me dinner an apology and at least three rounds of sex when I get back from this trip."

Ryou sat and wondered which shade of red his cheeks were turning.

"Yes Kaiba the team is already there and all set up I just spoke to everyone about it earlier today."

"Good. It goes without saying that this is not only the biggest exploration probably of this century so I want it to go off without a hitch if there's anything missing when you get there let me know and I'll have it sent to you overnight. You have two weeks reserved before anyone else gets to even touch that site so I expect a clean sweep. Anything we can get we're taking I don't care if it's just an interesting looking speck of dust. Grab and bag it up understand?"

"I gotcha I'll make sure we get it all." Yugi had been sitting through Kaiba's rant as he usually did, rolling his eyes and saying I know a bunch of times in his head. He had heard the same speech countless times and instead of sitting through this again he decided it would be best to change topics "Joey says you can shove whatever you have tp say up your ass."

Yugi heard a long sigh over the phone. "He's still pissed about that?"

"Well it was your anniversary dinner and he did spend the entire day cooking it and you did sort of stand him up without any explanation as to why so yeah. He's still pissed about that. You need to do better than that Kaiba."

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow he still needs another day to calm down a bit more."

"Or you could call today admit you were wrong and next time not miss the dinner your boyfriend slaved over a hot stove to make to meet with a stuffy executive so you can add a few more bucks to your billionaire fortune."

Yugi knew it wasn't his business to pry into other people's relationships but he couldn't help it. Joey had been so upset that night when he called and told Yugi what had happened. He knew Kaiba was trying, he really was and he had improved a lot but he still needed to do a bit better sometimes.

"I'll call tomorrow."

Kaiba hung up and Yugi sighed before putting his phone back in his pocket and going over to his friends who were already in line to board the plane.

"What did that jerk have to say."

"Just all the usual stuff. He says he'll call you tomorrow."

"Oh lucky me I finally get attention from my boyfriend."

Yugi and Ryou shared a glance. Joey was pissed and this wasn't getting fixed until Kaiba actually fixed it himself. Ryou reached up and put a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Hey it's ok you know he means well. He probably just wants to give you a day to cool off that's all. You know he loves you."

"Thanks Ryou I know. I guess I should just accept the fact that I'm dating an asshole." The three boarded the plane and repaired for the long eighteen-hour flight from Los Angeles to Cairo. It was going to be an adventure.

Dear journal,

After countless attempts to bribe the screaming child behind me to get him to shut up, I've finally given up. I will accept the hearing loss and lack of peace that was an inevitability from the start. You would think over the course of ten hours the kid would at least have to go to sleep eventually but no. Apparently he's immune to the effects of exhaustion. It could be worse. I could be Ryou right now. He has to listen to the kid screaming and the kid's brother keeps kicking his seat. Ryou's too nice to ask him to stop although I'm starting to notice that with each passing hour Ryou's niceness is starting to wear down more and more. Joey of course is passed out asleep in the corner. He could sleep through World War Three if it happened in front of his house. Lucky. Ryou and I will continue to suffer without him. Yay us.

Yugi put his journal away and sighed knowing it was going to be a long day. He looked over at Ryou who was in the midst of being kicked yet again. "Alcohol?"

Ryou sighed. "Might help. If we have to sit through all of this the least we can do is not be sober for it. What time do we have to be at the dig site tomorrow?"

"Eight in the morning but we have plenty of time to sleep it off. Besides we can't go to the dig site I the morning if we're in jail for assaulting two kids."

"Point made. Order the alcohol."

Yugi called over one of the smiling flight attendants "Hi we need some alcohol."

The woman looked very confused and concerned. Yugi was starting to wonder if he had said something wrong when the flight attendant finally spoke. "Young man where are your parents?"

Yugi mentally sighed. He had forgotten that he looked like a twelve year old. He smiled politely. "Ma'am, I'm twenty-two. I have my ID if you need to see it."

The woman looked at the passport that was handed to her and immediately began apologizing profusely. "I am so sorry again sir I hope I didn't offend you. What'll you two gentlemen have to drink?"

Ryou suddenly jerked forward. The kicks were getting harder and Ryou's patience was dying slowly but surely. He turned to the flight attendant. "We don't care. Just make it strong and keep them coming."

Yugi looked over at Ryou. He was beginning to worry about him. Ryou was a very patient person but once that patience was gone it was gone for good. Those two little kids were about to be in for a rude awakening.

The flight attendant came over with the first rounds of drinks. Yugi looked at it for a second. "Should we ask what's in it?"

Yugi turned to Ryou just in time to see Ryou throw his back like a pro. "Nope." Ryou said as he quickly called the flight attendant back over and ordered another. Yeah. This was going to be a long flight.

Joey was still laughing his ass off when they reached the hotel. Ryou had finally snapped on the kids in the seats behind them. They almost made it. They almost went the whole flight without it. It was in the last hour of the flight when he lost it. Ryou had finally drowned out the screaming and gotten used to the kicking but then that little kid had to go and grab his hair and pull it and after that it was all over. Ryou snapped on one kid and then the other and then turned to the mother and after a long speech about disciplining children so they won't grow up to become the spawn of Satan, he kindly ended with "Condoms were made so that people like you don't reproduce! Use one next time!" The two kids sat down silently and behaved for the rest of the trip. Every time it seemed like they were about to do something bad Ryou turned and looked at them and they went back to twiddling their thumbs.

"Th- The entire section cheered when you cursed that lady out! I'm so happy I woke up in time for that!" Joey kept laughing while he continued to get them checked into the hotel. Usually checking them in would be Yugi's job but he had always been a bit of a light weight and right now he was definitely drunk. Ryou had the same amount of drinks but he was just buzzed. It was almost eleven o'clock at night and he needed his rest if he was going to get anything productive done at the site tomorrow.

Yugi took his room key and immediately headed towards the elevator. "Hey!" Yugi turned to see Joey and Ryou both looking concerned. "You ok buddy?"

Yugi tried his best at a reassuring smile. "I'm fine I'm just gonna go sleep the drunk away."

Ryou looked satisfied but Joey still looked slightly concerned. "Ok well have a good night. You want us to bring you any dinner?"

"No thanks Joey but thank you. If I get hungry I'll order room service." Yugi went towards the elevator and took the first one up. He was so happy that he got one alone so when the elevator stopped on a lower floor to let someone in he sighed. When the doors opened though he began to think it might not be so bad after all. The man who got in looked to be a few years older and was attractive in all the ways Yugi liked. Strong Jaw, beautiful eyes, athletic build caramel skin all wearing only a pair of sweatpants and some slides. He was a sight for horny eyes. He stood on the wall opposite Yugi staring down at his phone, giving Yugi a perfect view of everything he wanted to see and Yugi enjoyed the view on the way up.

"You know, if you're going to stare you could at least be discrete about it." Yugi should've been mad or offended but the man's voice was just too deep. He desperately wanted him to keep talking. Normally this would be the point when sober Yugi would look away blush and apologize but this wasn't sober Yugi. This was drunk Yugi and drunk Yugi tended to handle these types of situations a bit differently.

"If you don't want to be stared at you could at least put a shirt on." The man finally glanced up at Yugi before doing a double take. Yugi stood there as the man's eyes slowly went down and then back up his form the same way Yugi was doing to him just a second ago. He put his phone in his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest.

"How old are you kid?"

"My name's not kid it's Yugi and I'm twenty-two. What about you old man, you remember how old you are?"

The man was smirking at him now and Yugi could swear that the man learned the look from the devil himself. The more Yugi stood in this man's presence the more things he wanted this man to do to him. "My name is Atem I am twenty-five and you my friend are drunk I can smell the alcohol from here."

Yugi matched the man's smirk and took a few steps towards him. "Oh but I'm not that drunk. I'm sober enough to know what I want."

"And what would that be that you want?"

Just then the elevator doors opened on Yugi's floor. He turned to Atem who was still waiting for an answer to his question. Yugi bit his bottom lip and his hand walking backwards with him in tow. "Come with me to my room and I'll tell you what I want."

The stranger followed Yugi to his room and as soon as they got in the doors it started. Their mouths didn't come apart for more than ten seconds at a time. The stranger had Yugi pressed against the door before Yugi changed their positions. They finally separated for a second and the stranger looked down at Yugi "You sure you want this."

Yugi stared at the stranger before getting to his knees. "Like I said, I'm sober enough to know what I want."

Dear Journal,

I SLEPT WITH HIM! A COMPLETE STRANGER! I CAN'T BELIEVE MYSELF WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME! Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. He probably thinks I'm some type of slut! What if he tells somebody! What if he tells everybody! Damnit I don't care how amazing the sex was I cannot go doing that! On the other hand the sex was REALLY amazing. But it doesn't matter! That's not who I am that's not the type of thing I do! At least he left before I woke up this morning. If I had to face him after what just happened! I just need to put it out of my mind I'm going to be ok just need to focus on my work and if I see him today I need to explain that that's not me. That's not how I usually act. I was drunk! Oh my gosh I SLEPT WITH HIM!

Yugi definitely would've written more but the knock on his door made him stop his mental rampage. He went to the door and opened it to see Joey and Ryou ready to go. "You all set Yug?"

Yugi considered telling them about his night but decided it would have to wait until later. Today was too important. "Yeah let me just go grab my pack and my waters I'll be out in just a second. Yugi decided to put the man out of his head. It was an exciting day, the first day of the dig. He was going to make a point to enjoy himself. He would think about his drunken activities later. With that thought in his head Yugi left his room and went to start his day in the beautiful deserts of Egypt.

While Yugi was still far off he could see the crew from the jeep and he was happy they were all up and working on time. Then, as they got closer he realized that the group was too big to be all his crew.

He took a few deep breaths as his inner voice started telling him all the things that could go wrong today as they got closer and closer to the site. He got out and went over to the second group, Ryou and Joey following closely behind, thinking that there was just some type of mistake. After all his team was the only one approved and he was promised two weeks on the site before anyone else could touch it.

"Excuse me my name is Yugi Mouto I think there must be some sort of mistake. This is my site I'm supposed to have two weeks here I was told that no one else was approved."

The man shrugged his shoulders not giving a care in the world. "Boss man told us to have our asses here this morning. I don't really know much about it all we weren't really told and we just got here so I'm not sure how much I can help you."

Yugi wanted to scream at several people. He wasn't prepared to compete with someone on this trip. He was going to take it easy on this trip and go slow but that was looking like less and less of an option. "Ok well can you get whoever is in charge and bring him here so I can speak to them about this."

"Sure thing."

The guy left and as soon as he did Ryou and Joey immediately started on him. "Deep breaths Yugi it's ok even if we do have to share the site we'll still make sure our team gets all the best artifacts."

But that was just the problem. Yugi didn't want the best artifacts. He wanted all of the artifacts good bad and otherwise. He took a deep breath promising himself he'd be civil and respect the situation at hand.

And then Yugi saw who was in charge of the second team. He felt the color drain from his face which was impressive considering the fact that there wasn't much color there to begin with, pale as he was. "Well well well. What brings you here Yugi?"

Ryou and Joey looked at the stranger confused. "Yugi you know this guy?"

Yugi didn't even turn to look at Joey. "We've met." Yugi took a deep breath reminded himself to be an adult and put on his best business smile. "Good morning Atem. There must be some sort of mistake I was supposed to have this site reserved for two weeks nobody else is supposed to be here so I need you guys to pack up so I can get to work."

"Unfortunately for you, those plans have changed. We just got approved this morning to come dig on the site so I guess you're going to have to share."

Yugi's eyes were becoming a lot more hostile with each passing word but to his credit his smile hadn't moved an inch. He didn't share. That's not something Yugi was good at. If it was his, it was his alone and no one was taking it. "I don't share sites if I'm promised that I'm not going to have to. It's mine you can come back in two weeks when I'm done with it."

"Sorry no can do. In two weeks time I'll have taken everything worth anything here but if I find a fun looking rock I'll send it over your way." Atem took the time to look Yugi up and down again the same way he did last night only this time Yugi was not in the mood. "You look good for a hangover though I gotta say, I prefer the way you were acting last night."

"I was drunk."

"Yes I remember. Drunk but still sober enough to know what you want." Atem looked his body over one last time before staring him straight in the eyes. "Maybe whatever was in you last night we should get back in you again. Ya know. To loosen you up."

Yugi couldn't tell if his face was red from furry or embarrassment. At that point Joey started getting protective and stepped forward. "I'm sorry how does my friend know your name?"

"He should know it he was moaning it pretty loud last night." Atem saw the looks on Joey and Ryou's faces and he mentally patted himself on the back at seeing Yugi's face get even redder "Oh, your friends didn't know. Oops. So sorry. See ya Yugi and have fun with your little dig. Stay out of the way of the… real professionals if you could. Thanks"

With that Atem walked off and left Yugi standing there ready to rip his and Atem's hair out. This was going to be a long two weeks.


	2. Conflict

Yugi took a drink from his water bottle for what felt like only the one hundredth time that day. He was hot, tired and covered in dirt that was sticking to him from the sweat that was covering his body. There wasn't enough sunscreen in the world to protect him from the sunburn that was definitely coming. His water was hot his body was tired and he was ready to quit but there was no way in hell he was stopping until every last artifact on the grounds was found.

It was noon and at this point the air was thick with both heat and tension and it was hard to tell which one was worse. Yugi had started off the work day with dirty looks at Atemu and his dirty looks lead to Ryou and Joey giving dirty looks which lead to the workers giving dirty looks which lead to Atem's side returning those dirty looks. Every time Yugi and Atem looked at each other, Atem smirked or winked or blew a kiss Yugi's way, trying his best to irritate him and it was working because Yugi at this point had mentally punched him at least ten times. If looks could kill Atem would have been dead already. Yugi was sure the heat coming from his glare raised the temperature of the surrounding air at least ten degrees but he didn't care.

The tension was so bad it spread to the workers and it made everyone much more competitive. Yugi's workers wore orange shirts with their khakis and Atem's wore yellow with theirs. The two teams of people were constantly fighting over places to dig leaving Yugi and Atem to have to come together to negotiate who would get the spot. Although, negotiating may be the wrong term since it usually ended in a petty mess of name calling and trying to scream louder at each other. The closer and closer the two teams got to the pyramid, the more they wondered: who would be the first team inside? Of course Yugi just knew it was going to be him and Atem knew the same.

The grounds of the site were filled with artifacts for discovering. Each group had already found four items in the first day alone but even discovering things was becoming a problem. Every time Atem called over to Yugi gloating about a find, Yugi would double his working speed and his workers would follow his lead. Whenever Yugi called over to Atem for the same reason, Atem would do the same. It was an infuriating cycle that had no end in sight and it made Yugi want to just go over and punch Atem in that smug pretty sexy stupid face of his! Luckily for Yugi's blood pressure, Atem disappeared about two hours ago. If he had to deal with him for a little while longer Yugi would have been escorted away from the site by police car. Of course, everybody noticed the way the two were acting towards each other. Especially a very concerned Joey.

Yugi took another drink and was about to get back to work when a hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up and Joey was standing above him. He reached out a hand and Joey helped pull him up off the ground where Yugi had been looking for yet another artifact. "Hey Yugi I know you've got a competition against douche face to win and all but how about we go over to Atem and call a ceasefire for thirty minutes so all the workers can get lunch. I know ours are tired and his seem just as bad. We could all use it, especially you."

Yugi sighed but got up, knowing Joey was right. He didn't want to stop working. If he had it his way, he would work until the sun went down and he couldn't see well enough to work. Even then he would go find a flashlight or something. Unfortunately, Joey wouldn't let him do that so Yugi wouldn't even try. "Thanks Joey it's ok. I'll go talk to him alone. I'll see if we can all get a break." The moment Yugi said the word alone, Joey was immediately worried. He was like an over protective older brother and it was really endearing for Yugi to know that his friend cared so much but right now was not the time. "What's wrong Joey?"

"You want to go talk to him alone? The guy you keep giving death threats with your eyes? What happened between you and him Yugi? Every time you two look at each other you get more and more pissed and he just has this smug look on his face. I know you didn't really sleep with him you would never sleep with a stranger." Luckily for Yugi, Joey was too distracted with concerns for Yugi that he didn't notice the look that crossed his friends face at that last comment. Ideas suddenly started going through Joey's mind, none of them good. "Did he hurt you? What did he do? I swear if he laid one finger on you-"

Yugi blushed knowing that Atem had put more than his fingers on him last night. Joey looked ready to fight and Yugi knew from experience that he would if he felt like Yugi was in any type of danger. Yugi sighed knowing he had to stop Joey from going over and ruining Atem's face. "Relax Joey he didn't hurt me!" Yugi sighed knowing he had some explaining to do. "I met him on the elevator last night on the way up to my room. I was drunk from the plane and he was hot so I took him to my room and I let him… we… um…"

Luckily Yugi didn't have to spell it out for Joey because at that point he might have just passed out from embarrassment. Having to explain to your best friend that you had sex with a stranger simply because of alcohol and attractiveness was never exactly a fun task. Unfortunately, now he had to deal with Joey going back to big brother mode and he was not in the mood.

He sat there for a solid ten minutes and listed to comments that ranged from "What the hell were you thinking?" to "This is so unlike you!" to "I knew we should've gone with you to your room last night! Then this never would have happened!" All of these comments, while sweet because they showed Joey cared, where not needed or wanted right now. Yugi was already feeling too many negative emotions to balance this too. Joey just cared about him, he knew that, but having to hear his mistakes read back to him by his friend didn't make them sound any better.

"I get it Joey I fucked up! You don't need to tell me what I already know!" The nearby workers stopped their work and turned from the suddenness of the outburst but quickly went back to work once Yugi sent them the same look he had been sending Atem. He sighed and turned to Joey. He loved Joey but he wasn't dealing with this. "Look Joey, it was a drunken mistake. I'm fine. I'll go talk to Atem to see about getting us all a break."

Yugi left before Joey could respond. He knew Joey was just a concerned friend but Yugi was grown, he could handle himself. He grabbed one of Atem's workers who was swiftly moving from one work spot to the next. "Where is Atem?"

Yugi walked into the comfortable, spacious, tent with three different fans blowing that Atem was in telling himself to breathe and stay calm: two things he never seemed to remember to do around Atem. He told himself on the way over that he was going to stay calm and be professional no matter what but as soon as he saw where Atem had disappeared off to for two hours while everyone else suffered in the heat, all the things he had been telling himself on the way over went out the window. "What's the matter? Can't stand to take your lazy ass out into the sun like the rest of us lowly peasants?"

Atem looked up and smirked at seeing his favorite person in the whole wide world to irritate. "Yugi always a pleasure. Are you here to tell me that you're giving up and you're giving the site to me because you finally realize that I'm better than you in every way shape and form?"

"How are you better than me when we're tied at four a piece? Or did you just forget how to count that high?" The harder Yugi glared the bigger Atem's smirk got. By this point Atem looked like he was trying impersonate the Grinch.

"Tied? Oh did I not tell you? One of my workers came in a few minutes ago. We're up to five now. You know like five feet the height you'll never be able to grow to." Yugi resisted the urge to scream just barely. He quickly reminded himself why he came to talk to this man in the first place.

"I propose a thirty minute break for all the workers for lunch. They're all exhausted and it's oppressively hot outside, not that you would know since you're in here working your lazy ass out on that chair. My workers aren't going to stop until yours do and vice versa. They're all getting too competitive. We can stop now give them all a break and then get back to work."

Atem sighed knowing Yugi was right but not wanting production to stop. He had investors to satisfy. While five was a great haul for the first day, he wanted more. Unfortunately, he needed workers for that to happen and if the workers all passed out and got heat stroke then nothing would definitely get done. "Ok fine. Thirty minutes but for my generosity, I want first dibs on the pyramid."

Yugi burst out laughing. If Atem really thought he would agree to that he must have lost his damn mind. If that's what it would take he would go get each of his workers their own six pack of five hour energy and tell them to get back to it. "You want what? Hell no! I'm not giving you first access to that! Pick something else."

Atem looked thoughtful for a moment before finally settling on something and looking back at Yugi. "Ok then." Atem stood and started walking over to Yugi. He grabbed Yugi's hips and pulled him forward. Yugi gasped and put out his hands, both landed on Atem's chest. Yugi was pissed, not because Atem grabbed him but because of how much he liked having Atem's hands on his body. Damn this man for making him feel so good just from a fucking touch. The sex hadn't been that good had it? Had it? That's all it was right? The sex. All these thoughts raced through Yugi's mind until Atem's voice brought him back. "You know what else would convince me?" Yugi barely resisted the urge to moan when one of Atem's hands grabbed his ass and squeezed hard. Nice and rough like Yugi liked it. Yugi felt Atem's mouth near his ear. He wanted to moan so fucking bad. "I just want-"

"Get your fucking hands off him!" Yugi jumped back suddenly as Joey entered the tent and stomped over to Yugi to make sure he was ok. Yugi was pissed. He didn't know what would have happened if Joey hadn't entered the tent but he was sure he was going to like it. "I knew I shouldn't have let you talk to this guy alone!"

Atem laughed. "Relax I was just going to tell him to give me area five." The places where the workers were working were all labeled areas one through forty-six. Area five had been one of the ones that both teams wanted. When Yugi and Atem met to negotiate it, Yugi left with the piece of land. "Besides your friend there is a consenting adult. If he really wanted me to stop he would've said no and from what I remember, that word never came out of his mouth."

Joey looked like a bull ready to charge. Yugi quickly hopped in front of him deciding that now was not the time for him to go fighting people. "If all you really wanted was area five why were you doing all that stuff to him?"

"Distraction to make him more likely to say yes. Also because it's fun to watch him while I do it." Atem looked like the cat who ate the entire canary family. "He gets the most interesting looks when he's trying to seem like he's not aroused." Atem winked at Yugi and Yugi wasn't sure at this point if he wanted to go slap him or straddle him. 'What am I thinking? The first one of course! I want to do the first one! Damnit hormones get it together!' Even with that thought Yugi was still undecided on which course of action to take.

Yugi decided this meeting needed to be ended as soon as possible. "You can't have area five. I'll give you areas three and seventeen instead. They're both closer to your side anyways." Atem thought it over for a bit. Last time he saw those two sites, Yugi's workers were all over them, sure that there was something there.

"Fine. I'll take them." He went outside and Joey and Yugi quickly followed. "Everyone listen up!" Yugi jumped as Atem's booming voice got even louder. Everyone across the field could hear him loud and clear. "Take a break, all of you! Work will resume in thirty minutes!" Yugi's workers all looked at him and he nodded his agreement, telling them it was ok. Everyone suddenly got up and left their work to go to the tents to eat. In a matter of minutes the grounds were completely cleared. "Anything else you wanted?" Yugi turned to Atem who was smiling suggestively while leaning back to stare straight at Yugi's ass.

Yugi turned and glared. "No. That will be all. Thank you." Atem went back to his tent and Yugi walked with Joey over to his side of the site. When Yugi got to the lunch area for his team he was greeted with a very concerned looking Ryou. Yugi gave a long loud sigh knowing he had his second lecture of the day coming, Yugi sighed and went over to him ready to get an earful and with Joey right behind ready to contribute to the speech, Yugi was sure it would be a good one.

Atem sat in his tent with his workers. He had his lunch in front of him but he couldn't concentrate. There was something bothering him about that negotiation he had with Yugi earlier and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get it out of his head. Finally, he gave up on ignoring the thoughts. Atem got up and grabbed a worker. "Show me areas three and seventeen. I need to see them both." As he followed the worker, Atem couldn't help but have a bad feeling about what he was about to see when he got there.

"Explain. Now."

Those were the first words Kaiba heard when he answered the phone call from a very pissed off Yugi and he already knew what this was about. He had gotten the call earlier from Pegasus. Apparently, the fellow billionaire managed to get one of his archaeologists cleared for the job just that morning, a man named Atem. Seto had been calling around furiously all morning finding out how this happened and making sure it never would again. "He's one of Pegasus's boys. Twenty-five, going to be twenty-six in about a week. Got his degree from UVA been in the field about as long as you have but that's just because you graduated early. He's known for large scale clean sweeps of areas. Once he gets into an area, there's nothing left to find."

Yugi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This is not what he wanted to hear right now. There was a pretty bastard on the other side of the camp that Yugi would gladly have hate sex with right now he needed good news. He needed to hear that Atem was a high school dropout or that he had an arrest record longer than his dick! None of this was that. "Is there anything else about him you want to share?"

"Well he has a kid." Yugi had never felt so sick so fast. Everyone was looking at him concerned and Joey and Ryou were rushing over to him. Yugi looked around knowing he had to get out of there. He quickly ran out of the tent away from everybody and sat down in the sand because right now standing was a challenge he couldn't be expected to deal with. "He has a what?" Surely he had misheard that last part.

"He has a daughter. Nine years old, he and a former girlfriend had her when they were both sixteen and in high school but apparently, he has full custody. I'm assuming she stays with a family or friend when he goes on digs. Her name is Vivian."

Yugis ears were ringing his eyes refused to focus and his lungs refused to take in air. He wanted to ask a lot more question but just as he was about to he saw the man of the hour storming over to him. "Yuig? You there?"

"I have to go. Call your boyfriend." Yugi hung up before Kaiba could speak. Yugi stood up and met the gaze of a pissed off Atem.

"Sites three and seventeen are already completely dug up! You knew your team had finished them when you traded them to me didn't you?" Yugi heard the words but couldn't process them much less think up an answer. "Well? Did you know! Answer me?"

Yugi stared at Atem for a moment more before he finally had to respond to the man. "You have a daughter?"

"What?"

For the second time that day, Seto had to deal with someone on the phone being pissed off at him only this time it was his boyfriend. "Hey. I needed to talk to you."

"Oh yeah sure now you need to talk to me because yesterday it was so hard to pick up a phone and dial my number right? Honestly Seto I'm so sick of your bullshit." Joey knew he needed to calm down but he was already so far gone. "What finally got the great Seto Kaiba to pick up a damn phone? What motivated you to stop your workaholic ways for little old me?"

"My boyfriend is mad at me and I don't want him to be. That's motivation enough. I'm sorry for what happened." Joey sat silent. He knew Seto was waiting on him to respond but at this point he wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "I know I need to do better and I will just please Joey talk to me." Still no answer. "Please Joey speak to me."

Joey sat silently a tear coming to his eye before finally he had to respond. "How could you do that to me? You know how excited I was to see your face when you got home that night? Just the other night you were saying that you wished we could sit down to home cooked meals more often. I told you on Monday that you needed to have your night clear on Wednesday. I cooked for hours, literally hours Seto, making all of your favorite foods. You think I did all of this for my health? I did it to see the smile on your face. It was for you, all for you and you couldn't even bother to show up to actually eat it because you decided your money was more important than me. You didn't even care enough to call me and tell me not to wait up for you! Now you call me, days later, probably because Yugi told you to hoping that I'm not still angry thinking you can say sorry and I'll immediately forgive you as if what you did was easily forgivable. So please understand that when you say 'Please Joey speak to me' I really don't know what you expect me to say."

The line was silent. Neither of the two knew what to say to the other. Joey was hurt and Seto was finally understanding just how badly he messed up. One thing was clear, calling and saying Sorry wasn't getting Seto out of this one.

Meanwhile in the deepest layers of the underground beneath everyone's feet, a presence was awakened. It could sense them on the surface layer above, digging. They were digging and as they got closer and closer to the entrance of the pyramid, it awakened more and more. It's mouth opened slightly, breaking apart after many centuries of being shut and one word came out.

"Humans."


	3. Background Checks

Atem sat in his tent, very _very_ pissed off after a long talk with Yugi that basically boiled down to Atem telling him to "Stay the fuck out of my business". He was staring at his phone deep in thought thinking about what he should do and what he wanted to do. He knew he should put down the phone and go on with his day. He knew that he should get as much work don today as possible. He knew two wrongs didn't make a right but at this point, he was too mad to care. He dialed the number.

"Pegasus, hey it's me. I want a full background check on Yugi Mouto now."

Pegasus sat in his office and took a moment to look at the phone in his hand confused. "A full background check on a fellow archeologist? That's not something you'd usually have done. Why?"

"Personal reasons that I'd rather not explain. How long will it take to get the information?"

Pegasus sighed. 'This is not a good idea.' "It won't be long I have sources at city hall who can get a bunch of info all at once in a matter of minutes."

"Great. I'll call back soon I have to make another call really quick."

As soon as Atem hung up he dialed a different number. It was picked up on the first ring.

"What do you want?"

"Put her on the phone."

"Hello to you too and don't just go ordering me around like you own me or some shit."

"Tea I'm having a long stressful day and I want to speak to my daughter so put her on the phone and don't go cursing like that she might hear you."

"So what if she hears me she'll be fine. She's going to learn all the words in a few years anyways."

"Tea I mean it! Stop the cursing!"

"Shit fuck cunt bitch ass damn hell pussy dick- oh hi honey."

Atem wanted to jump through the phone. He hated it when his daughter heard her mother cursing. Just because Tea talked like a damn sailor didn't mean his baby had to too.

"Daddy!"

As soon as he heard his daughter's voice, Atem immediately calmed down. "Hi sweetie how's daddy little baby? Is your momma taking care of you?"

"I'm good daddy! Mommy's doing fine she took me to get ice cream today at the park."

"Before or after you ate dinner?"

The line was silent for a moment before Atem heard anything. "Mommy told me that I'm not supposed to answer that because she doesn't want to hear your bitching."

"TEA!"

"Ouch Daddy! That was loud you hurt my ears!"

"I'm sorry baby daddy will talk to you tomorrow ok? Put your momma back on the phone."

"Ok bye daddy love you."

"Love you too baby."

Atem could hear the phone changing hands and as soon as Tea was back on he immediately went off. "This is what I was talking about! I don't want her talking like that stop cursing in front of her all the damn time!"

"I'll do whatever the hell I want with her she's my damn daughter I'm the one who actually carried and delivered her!"

"And I'm the one who actually raised her for the past nine years while you were drunk or high or in rehab or in some random guy's bed! Can you at least pretend to give a fuck?"

"I told you I'm done with all of that shit now! The doctors cleared me from rehab I'm out for good this time."

"You were out of rehab for good last time when you snuck into my house three months later and tried to steal Vivian away from her bed in the middle of the damn night! I almost shot your dumb ass you're lucky I realized who you were before I pulled the damn trigger!"

"I wouldn't have to try and steal her if you would let me see my baby more often!"

"I'd let you see her more often if you weren't always so fucked up! How many times have I found you high on some shit or drunk off some shit and you couldn't even tell me what it was because you didn't even know!"

"I told you I'm fine now get off my fucking back!"

"I'll believe it when I see it and watch your mouth around my fucking daughter!"

Just then Atem looked up to see Yugi entering the tent, trying to pretend like he hadn't heard anything. Atem didn't know what expression was on his face but it must not have been a nice one because Yugi immediately shrunk away. "Um… I can come back later if you want…"

Atem sighed and waved him in. "Tea I have to go. Make sure she goes to bed by ten o'clock."

"It's Friday!"

"Ten o'clock Tea!"

Atem hung up and threw the phone to some random corner of the room not caring where it landed or if it broke. He looked up at his visitor who he was still very pissed off at. "What do you want?"

Yugi walked in and stood across from Atem looking guilty. "Look I just wanted to come in and say that… um… I'm sorry about the whole background check without your permission thing. It was petty and stupid of me to try to get you kicked off the site that way and I regret it."

Atem stared at Yugi for a minute and then he sighed putting his head in his hands. "Tell me everything that background check told you. Now."

"Not much that I didn't already know. You're 25, you went to UVA you're known for getting everything out of an area though you work relatively slowly, your daughter is nine you had her with a girlfriend in high school and her name is Vivian. That's all I know."

Atem sighed again, knowing he was going to get many gray hairs from this. He looked up to see that Yugi was still standing there in the tent. His eyes narrowed and his voice became borderline lethal. "Was there anything else you wanted?" Yugi flinched at his tone.

"Uh no that was it I just wanted to apologize to you that was all. I um I guess I'll be going now."

Yugi walked out and Atem counted to sixty before he went to find his phone in the corner of the tent where he had thrown it. He called Pegasus.

"Hey Pegasus, you done with that search yet?"

"Yes and your friend is a very interesting person it seems. Graduated college early due to a combination of an accelerated course load and skipping a few grades early on in life. He's known for quick digs, he can get in and out of an area fast with about 95% of the artifacts from the site on average and he never leaves anything important behind. He has no living relatives his parents died when he was ten his brother died when he was 16 and his grandfather died two years ago. His grandfather was an archeologist as well, a very accomplished one at that. He was a loner in high school, he didn't have many friends. He had three boyfriends, all of them were in his words "moronic douchebags". The first one was when he was fourteen, the guy had a car. The second one was when he was sixteen, this one had a motorcycle. The third was when he was eighteen and this one had money. He's been single since then. He's been in the hospital a lot it seems. I can't see what for but he was in and out as a child and then again as a teenager at one point he was going in multiple times a day. Strange."

"Strange indeed. You're sure you can't get into the medical records?"

"Not legally."

"I didn't ask if you could do it legally."

Atem heard a sigh over the phone. "Give me another minute to see what I can do. In the meantime, get back to work."

Atem hung up and went outside to dig. He knew it was both wrong and hypocritical to have a background check done on Yugi but right now, he didn't care. 'Let's see what happens when someone meddles in your personal life.'

"Hey Yugi you alright?"

Yugi looked up and saw Ryou standing above him looking concerned. Yugi gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah I'm fine Ryou why?"

"Well I saw you walking over to Atem's tent earlier. You looked pretty guilty. Anything you want to talk about?"

Yugi smiled. Ryou was a great listener and was always his go to whenever he needed to vent about anything but this was not something he really wanted to talk about just yet.

"Not right now Ryou. Give me a while to process it all a bit more and then I'll-"

Yugi stopped when he heard his phone ring.

Ryou looked at him confused. "That's strange. People usually know not to call you when you're on site. Who is it?"

Yugi looked at his phone. "I don't know it's nobody I know. Hold on Ryou let me take this it might be important. Hello?"

"Hi is this Yugi Mouto?"

"Yes, this is him speaking."

"This is Domino Hospital calling to confirm your request earlier about your medical records."

Ryou was beginning to worry with the faces Yugi was making. "Medical records? I never requested anything about-" Yugi stopped mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed dangerously and he worked hard to make sure his voice remained normal. There was only one person here who not only wanted that information but had the means to get it. "Oh yes. Those medical records."

"You got the records?"

"Yes it was difficult and we could both go to prison for it but I managed. Early on he was in for a bunch of sicknesses. In fact, it looks like he almost died quite a few times as a baby all the way up until he was four when he finally became healthy again."

"And the times he went when he was older?"

Atem could hear Pegasus sigh over the phone. "Well that's the thing. He went in quite often for a variety of things. Sometimes it was simple cuts and bruises that he needed pain medication for but as time goes on the reports get worse. There's reports of burns and even cuts that needed stiches that looked like they were caused by a knife. The very last report was apparently the worst. He had cuts all over his body and he apparently was shot through his side."

Atem stopped for a moment not sure if he wanted to know any more about the situation but as always, his curiosity won out in the end. "Do we have any clue who did all of this to him?"

"Well we can't be completely sure but we can take an educated guess. All of the hospitalizations started while he was with boyfriend number three and they ended as soon as their relationship did."

Atem fell back into his seat, speechless. "Oh shit."

"Oh shit indeed."

Just then somone entered Atem's tent. He looked up to see Yugi, and he looked like he was out for blood. "I just got a call from Domino City Hospital asking me if I received the medical records I asked for. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Pegasus let me call you back later." Atem hung up the phone and looked over at Yugi knowing that he was totally fucked.

"You got pissed at me and screamed at me for twenty minutes about staying out of your business and not invading your personal privacy and yet, you looked up my fucking medical records?"

Atem got up and slowly walked over to Yugi. "Now look, Yugi I know I was wrong but-"

"Tell me what you know."

Atem stopped confused. "What?"

"Tell me what you know. What did you find out from your little background check on me huh?"

"Yugi listen it's not that important let's just forget about-"

Atem stopped when Yugi pulled out his phone. "My background check on you was completely and totally legal. I would love to hear you try to explain to the police how you got a hold of my medical records without breaking at least a few laws."

Atem sighed knowing he was caught. "You graduated early from college. Your digs are quick and you don't leave much behind. You have no family. Your parents died when you were ten and your brother died when you were 16. Your grandfather died two years ago and he was an archeologist and you didn't have a lot of friends."

"What else do you know?"

Atem hesitated. "You've had three boyfriends when you were fourteen sixteen and eighteen."

"Continue."

"…You were… very sick often as a child."

"Is that it?"

"…Yes."

Yugi stared for a minute. His eyes were slits of rage at this point. "Atem if you don't tell me what the fuck you found out about me I swear I'm going to-"

"Your last boyfriend. He… he abused you."

Yugi stopped and stared at Atem for a minute. "What?"

"Your last boyfriend? You went to the hospital a lot for a bunch of injuries. The trips started when you two started dating and they ended soon after you broke up so I assumed..."

"You just assumed he was abusing me."

"Was he?"

Yugi's eyes turned hostile again. "How the fuck is that any of your fucking business? I didn't ask you any questions."

"No but you already knew everything you wanted to know about me."

"What you want to know more? The whole illegally going through my information thing wasn't enough for you?"

Now Atem's eyes were narrowing. "Hey you brought this on yourself if you didn't go doing the exact same shit this wouldn't be happening!"

"So your argument is basically the equivalent to a toddler saying he started it? Nice one did you get that one from your daughter?"

"Don't talk about my daughter! Don't you dare ever talk about her!"

"Ok I won't! As long as you don't illegally go through my medical records and then sit here and make assumptions about my life! Oh but wait, you already did that!"

"Hey it's not my fault he did what he did-"

"Stop acting like you know me! You don't know shit!"

"I know you're a fucking whore who spreads his legs after a few drinks!"

"And I know that you're the idiot who knocked up a fucking drug addict in high school and had a daughter! Yet instead of being over there taking care of her, you're out here! Great parenting!"

"Um sirs-"

"What!"

The employee who had just interrupted the two arguing men shrank back. It looked like he was seriously considering running far away from the tent. He was one of Atem's workers and he slowly made his way into the tent. With the flap open, the two men could see that a lot of the workers were all gathered around the tent.

"We've reached the pyramid sirs. We were wondering… well… who's going in first?"

"I am of course!" Atem said immediately.

"In your fucking dreams! There's no damn way I'm letting you in there!"

"Well what makes you so deserving to go first?"

Yugi stopped and took a deep breath. It didn't help much but it took the edge off his anger so he could think straight. "Grab your gear. I'll meet you at the entrance in thirty minutes. We'll both go together."

Thirty minutes later, everybody was at the entrance to the pyramid. Ryou and Joey stood beside Yugi making sure he had everything he needed. Atem was over to the side saying goodbye to his daughter and explaining that it would be a while before he could call her since reception would be terrible. When the two were finally done with everything they went in front of the entrance. They shot each other one final hostile look and then they descended into the depths of the pyramid.

And that's where it all went wrong.


	4. Earth Trial

They shot each other one final hostile look and then they descended into the depths of the pyramid.

And that's where it all went wrong.

The ground began shaking as soon as they got inside the pyramid but they ignored it. They were finally exploring the depths of this ancient wonder, there was no way they were turning back. Plus turning back meant letting the other person discover everything first so they kept going ignoring the loud warning sirens going off in their brains telling them to go back.

Then it happened.

Yugi was holding up his flashlight using it to see with since it was only getting darker in the space. Everything in him was telling him to go to the surface and he ignored it. When he heard the first rock fall, he immediately started regretting that decision. Yugi and Atem both whipped around to see what had made the sound. The ground was shaking so hard that it was getting hard to stand up much less walk. Atem and Yugi watched as rocks fell from the ceiling and began blocking the entrance to the pyramid.

"No!" Atem tried to dart over and escape but an arm grabbed him. He wanted to turn around and scream at Yugi for taking away his chance at escape but he knew he should actually be thanking him. With all those big sharp rocks falling all over the place that fast, there was no way he could've gotten out alive. The two watched silently as the only known exit to the pyramid, was sealed.

Yugi knew he couldn't panic. He took a deep breath and started to think. Unfortunately for him, it was hard to think with Atem panicking beside him. He turned to him and spoke as calmly as he could. "Calm down we will be alright."

"Calm down? Our only exit is gone! Did you not notice that!"

"They will have someone come to remove the rocks and then we'll be on our way. It's a minor setback."

"A minor setback huh? Is that all you see is a minor setback? We're out in a remote part of the damn desert! It'll be days before a team will come to get us out if they can even find vehicles to drive over all this sand to get here!"

"So we wait a few days big deal. I have food in my bag we can just sit here and eat it."

"No!" Yugi shrank back as Atem turned on him. "If we're down here they will start calling families to tell them what's going on! As soon as they call my bitch of an ex-girlfriend she'll immediately turn around and tell my daughter and I don't want my child going around panicking because she thinks I'm dead or dying! Not that you would know anything about any of this, you don't even have a family!"

Atem stopped once he realized what he had said. Yugi was standing there with a tear in his eye that he refused to let fall. Atem reached over to touch his shoulder but Yugi stepped back. "Look I'm sorry I didn't mean that I just-"

"No you're right. I don't have a family. They're all dead. My parents were killed in a car accident my brother was shot in front of me for trying to be a hero and my grandfather had a terminal illness. I was in the car with my parents, I'm the one my brother was trying to save when they killed him, and I'm the one who had to give the order to pull the plug on my grandfather. They're gone, I have no one. I was surrounded by so much death and depression growing up that for a while I was actually convinced that I was cursed but remember something, I had a family at one point. I knew my parents and my brother and my grandfather and I loved them all so much. They were just as important to me as Vivian is to you. Also, just so you know, I've been in your daughters situation. My grandfather was on a dig and got trapped underground with only a friend who had gone down with him, enough water for only one of them, and a pack of cards. They called the family and they told me he was down there and they weren't sure when or if they were going to be able to rescue him. I was eight at the time. You know what I did?" Atem shook his head. "I got the fuck up and I comforted my mom who was crying because she thought she might lose her dad. I sat there and told her it would be ok and I got her tissues so she could wipe her tears and blow her nose. I pushed my sadness down and dealt with it later because at that moment, my mom needed me. In times like these, you'd be amazed how strong children can be."

Atem stared at Yugi for a moment before taking a deep breath and calmed his nerves. He wanted to say sorry to Yugi for the way he had acted but he knew Yugi wouldn't believe it was genuine if he did. Not yet. "Ok. We need to get out of here. So do we sit here and wait?"

Yugi sighed. "No. We can't. You were right when you said it would be difficult if not impossible to get any vehicles out here that could help us."

"So what do we do then, there was only one exit."

Yugi sat for a second and thought, Atem's words playing over in his head before a lightbulb went off. "No, there isn't."

"What?"

"There's another exit!" Yugi got up and started pacing furiously before finally turning back to a confused Atem. "This is the tomb of pharaoh Aknamkanon. King Aknamkanon was terrified of being buried alive so, just in case he was accidently buried alive in his tomb, he ordered his builders to make a second exit at the back of the pyramid, near his final resting room! If we can get there we can get out!"

Atem looked at him skeptically. "So, that's it? It's that simple, we just walk straight through to the back of the pyramid?"

Yugi almost seemed to deflate when he realized the other part of the equation. "Well… not exactly. You see, this pyramid was very heavily protected. Historians found documents that talked about the traps in this place. Apparently there are ten rooms before the final resting place, each one has something even worse than the last. To get to the back we would have to navigate through all ten rooms."

Atem sighed and ran a hand over his face thinking it over for a second. "Anything else I should know about this place?"

"Well legends say that there was a thief who snuck in the pyramid and died trying to steal the riches inside. It is said that his spirit haunts this place and he will come for anyone who he believes might steal the pharaohs treasure but that was just a silly myth. Honestly going through the rooms is probably our best choice. Most of the traps are probably out of use by now, it's not exactly like someone has been doing maintenance on them."

"Ok then, so our options are get to the back of the pyramid and live or stay here and maybe live maybe die."

"Yup, basically."

"How do we know that the entrance back there isn't blocked too?"

"We don't."

Atem looked forward to the dark cave like structure knowing that only one option made any real sense. "Ok, let's go. The back of the cave isn't getting any closer."

Back on the other side, Joey was panicking. He grabbed his phone and dialed a number with shaky fingers. "Seto? Something happened! Yugi got trapped underground inside the pyramid!"

"What?" Seto leaned forward and took a breath. "Joey, listen to me. You need to calm down alright? Calm down and tell me what happened."

Joey took another few seconds to cry before taking a deep breath and composing himself. "They had just gone into the pyramid when the whole place started shaking and then the rocks from the top started falling and now they're blocked in there! They're trapped they can't get out!"

Seto closed his eyes and thought for a second. When he finally opened them again he had made up his mind. "I'm coming out there."

"What?"

"I'm coming out to Egypt, I want to supervise this and make sure that everything goes as it should. Besides, if I go to Egypt I get to see you."

"Now you finally want to see your boyfriend when it's a possible life or death situation."

Kaiba sighed, exhausted by this point. "Joey what do I have to say or do to make this up to you?"

Kaiba listened for a few minutes to silence and then to the sound of the phone hanging up on Joey's end. He sighed for the hundredth time that day and began making arrangements to go to Egypt.

Down in the pyramid Yugi and Atem had reached the first room. Yugi scanned his flashlight around the entry way. "Hey wait a minute." Atem pointed at something that was too dark for Yugi to see. "What's that?"

Yugi shinned the light on it. It was a stone set into the wall that had a message on it in ancient Egyptian. "I don't know it looks like some type of message but I don't speak ancient Egyptian-"

The text started moving. Atem and Yugi stared in shock as the lines of the hieroglyphs moved around forming new letters, translating itself to English. After it stopped Yugi and Atem were still staring dumbstruck for a few more minutes.

"Atem?"

"Yeah?"

"Did… did you see that too? Just now?"

"You mean the ancient stone tablet translating itself to English?"

"Yeah, that."

"Nope."

"Good. Me neither."

Atem took a minute to get himself together before he read the text aloud. "Earth crumbling beneath your feet, if weakness we do see, if you keep emotions strong, to your death you will not fall. What the hell does that mean?" Before Yugi could reply the door to the room slid open automatically as if by magic.

Yugi stared at it for a minute before deciding that he was going to need copious amounts of therapy after this trip. "I don't know but we should probably be careful going into this room."

Atem looked at him skeptically. "Why? You said it yourself, the traps probably don't work anymore."

Yugi stared at him for a second. "The stone just translated itself. The door just came open on its own. I don't exactly think we can be too cautious at this point. Besides, it seems like all we have to do is go across the room with a straight face."

Atem sighed. "Okay fine lets go."

The two walked into the room that was as dark as the rest of the pyramid had been. As soon as they got inside, the room lit up with many torches set into the wall. The flames came from out of thin air. Yugi clicked his flashlight off and put it in his pack.

Atem and Yugi turned to each other. Yugi took a deep breath before speaking. "Remember, all we have to do is walk across here with a straight face." Atem nodded and the two began walking, faces holding neutral expressions.

The room was about the size of a football field. Atem and Yugi were walking side by side, step for step crossing the room. They made it to the center and that's when it happened.

"Yugi!"

Yugi stopped for a moment but his face didn't change. He stared straight ahead and Atem could see that he was trying not to react.

"Yugi please help!"

Atem stared confused. "Who is that?"

Yugi turned to him. "That's my mom." Atem's face almost changed and Yugi quickly said "Don't react."

"I thought your mother died."

"She did, it's not really her."

"Then how come we can hear her?"

"I don't know but be careful, they'll probably try to make you react too."

Atem nodded and the two continued. Yugi walked, listening to the helpless cries of everyone he had ever loved in his life. Even his ex boyfriends could be heard. He kept walking with a straight face through it all.

Then they moved on to Atem.

There was a quarter of the room left, that was all. Atem knew it was coming so he kept walking as one after the other his mother, father, brother, and Tea cried out for help. They had gone through everyone in Atem's life but one. Unfortunately for them, one was all they needed because there was only one person in the whole world who could make Atem react no matter what. The same person who always made Atem react.

"Daddy!"

With one word, it was all over. "Vivian!"

"No!" Yugi shouted but it was too late. The room began shaking and the two watched as parts of the floor began falling away. With nothing else to do, the two sprinted to the other side of the room. The faster they went the more the room began to shake. They jumped and dodged as large pieces of the ceiling began to fall away too. Atem pulled Yugi in front of him as a large piece almost hit his head.

As they were about to reach the open door, the floor in front of the door began falling away all at once, leaving Yugi and Atem stranded on an island of land that would fall away any second now.

Atem looked over. "On three we jump! One-"

"Three let's go we don't have time!"

The two jumped towards the door.

Yugi lay on his back panting. He looked over and glared at Atem. "I told you not to react! I warned you they would go after you! You should have known they were going to use Vivian's voice!"

"I know, know but it's not that simple! It's easier said than done!"

"I know! I had to do it too! Remember I was beside you!" Yugi sighed knowing that getting into yet another screaming match was not going to be helpful. "Look, this was the first room. The floor is gone so now we have to go forward and we don't know what the other rooms hold. You don't know how many challenges are going to be rooted in emotion like that one just was. You need to get a grip on your thoughts and your feelings, in times like this you need to learn to think with your brain and not your heart. Logic, not feelings."

"How do you know so much about all of that? Controlling your emotions so well like that, I mean?"

"A lifetime of practice."

Yugi got up and Atem followed him. "Come on, nine more rooms to go."

Atem looked back at the room they had just left. "After all the fun we just had with the last one, I can't wait."


End file.
